The LA fires in January 2025 affected the cities and neighborhoods in Los Angeles County, including Altadena, Malibu, Pasadena, Pacific Palisades and more. Over 40,000 acres across the county were destroyed and there have been 29 confirmed fatalities. 

Communities all over California that weren’t affected helped with food and clothes donations, and even shelter for people displaced by the fires. American Red Cross helped out a lot as well. Even Sacramento sent two crews to help. 

People came together when the county of Los Angeles needed them the most. They say it takes a community to raise a child but I say it takes another community to help a community when they’re down and need help. Even celebrities were affected — showing you money can’t buy everything and they are human beings too and have vulnerable moments. 

Tragedy also struck for Sacramento City College DSPS counselor Toni Newman as her childhood home burned down in the Altadena fires.  The Express recently spoke to Newman about the fires and her work at City College. 

How long have you worked at City College? 

[Since] 2005. I left for a year and a half, but I came back. 

Why do you like working as a counselor? 

I actually feel like being a counselor is my calling. I just really do, truly love supporting students and seeing people reach their goals and move on and get to do what they want to do. 

How do you feel knowing that the LA fires affected the house you grew up in? 

So it’s not just my house — 9,996 homes were burned in Altadena. The community is gone, and that’s devastating. I’m actually going down … to see the house. I haven’t seen it yet. I’ve seen pictures, but I haven’t put my eyes on it. … The rubble is toxic [and] everything got burned.
I mean, everything is like it’s extremely toxic. And so they’re telling people of course, they shouldn’t go there, and if you go, you should wear protective equipment [and] protective gear. 

I was telling my sister I wanted to go through the rubble, and her head exploded. It’s not like I want to rummage through and look for something.
I want to put my eyes on it and just kind of bear witness to it. It just seems really important to do. 

When I heard about the fires, I started calling people I know, seeing how they’re doing. A very dear friend of mine I’ve known since second grade — literally lives down the street for me — I could see her house from my house, and she said I haven’t heard from my brother. So I don’t if you’ve been keeping up on the news, [but] there was a report about someone who died with the hose in his hand. I’ve known that family since I was in second grade.

There’s another thing that’s really important about Altadena. Altadena is one of the communities where Black homeownership is over 80%, which is double the national average. It’s a place where Black folks could move to, so my parents moved there in the 1960s. When there was the red line [a discriminatory housing practice], Black people couldn’t move everywhere. And that was a community that [they] could move into and they bought a house, and so that’s where Black people could live. I mean, it was an art community. It was just very diverse. It’s shocking, and I [am] just curious as to how it’s going to rebuild.

How did you receive the news your family house was destroyed? 

We have cousins living in the house. So they were renting, and so they sent me a text. … There have always been fires in the out of the hills behind Altadena. I’ve lived here in Sacramento for over 30 years and I have evacuated my parents — you know, go down and get my parents. My parents have had to evacuate more than once. But, it’s the mountains and not the house. 

So the friend of mine that who lost her brother, the very next day I called her again. I talked to her the day of the fire. Fires are still raging, and she drives up there, still looking for her brother and her words to me were: “Tony, everything’s gone. Everything’s gone.” And then she told the story, she said you know, as she drove  to get her brother, she drove in when she heard about her, because she was living in in Pasadena, her brother was living in the family house. And so she drives up to go get her brother because she knows her brother has a disability [and he] may not get out of the house, so she goes to get him and she goes to this is eerie and she goes “embers were so big.” The embers were so big and she goes and there was no one there. They just let our houses burned. Those were her words. 

So, that’s when I found out our house burned, but I didn’t know for a fact. So I told my sisters, I said, our house is gone. My sister goes, you don’t know. And then, of course, we do know. … You think about that fire … my first thought was a lot of anger. But I really believe that people did the best they could do. I mean, there’s some things that are kind of questionable. Right. Some boundaries, kind of like how come it didn’t cross this there’s a street called Woodbury, like is a delineation between Altaine and Pasadena? The fire kind of stopped on Woodberry. There’s another delineation called Lincoln Avenue, where I know why they had to protect Lincoln Avenue. It was very clear. JPL — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA is there.
so they had to protect that and I get it. I mean, it’s hard to hear when your house burns or your whole community is gone. But I was thinking, why did they stop it Lincoln? Why couldn’t they stop it [at] Fair Oaks? Why didn’t they stop at Lake Avenue? Why did they wait? I’m just curious. I mean I don’t know.
I’m not a firefighter. I really like to believe that people did the best they could. and it was just more out of control than anyone could imagine. 

Did you hear about people looting on people’s property after the fire and if so, what are your thoughts about it? 

People take advantage. You know, people taking advantage of situations in multiple ways, right? So, just adding insult to injury, just like adding another layer of when folks aren’t weren’t allowed to go into their community and there wasn’t any protections to keep people away. So when we found out our house was burned down, because someone actually drove up there and took pictures, and they weren’t stopping people from doing that yet. The firefighters were still fighting fires.

I think we, as a society, need to think about how we build houses, about insurance. Looting is one crime, but I think another crime that we aren’t talking about is the fact that insurance companies can drop you. Why isn’t that criminal, right? 

Well, really now, nationwide, because climate change, destruction is happening in multiple ways. It could be a fire, it could be a flood, it could be a hurricane. These things are happening and insurance companie are abandoning Americans, so I think there need to be some creative solutions in how we support communities in this new climate. That’s one. 

The other pieces when people rebuild, because people will rebuild, right? If it’s not the individual it’s not it’s not the folks that own those homes developers are gonna come in and and rebuild, right? … We need to do think about: How do we build sustainable, fire-resistant homes. Sustainable, fire-resistant homes are really gonna be how we’re gonna move forward. … 

What’s next for you and your family?

So, as I said, we’re gonna be visiting … we’re gonna go check out our community and our house. I can’t even imagine. So we’re going down to meet the adjuster from the insurance company. We’re making it one trip, the plan is to rebuild.

Do you think the fires were caused by global warming? 

We’ve always had fires in that area. Those Santa Ana winds when I was there, they didn’t happen in January. … I remember it kind of being a fall thing. like I remember going back to school with Santa Ana winds. Now I had to look it up, but I heard that so because of climate change, in San Ana’s winds now are in January. So the timing was different. I don’t know if that really made a big difference, but we don’t have the precipitation, so we don’t get the rain that we need. That’s part of climate change,the severity of the fire is a result of climate change. 

I remember playing [as a child], I used to I loved the San Ana’s winds. I think it was fun and exciting. … But I don’t think there were 90 mile [per] hour winds. So, yeah, the climate is changing and we are responsible for climate change.

If you have anything to say to the people who were affected by the fire, what would you say? 

Let’s rebuild. … It was such a wonderful community, the whole city is gone.

This Q&A has been edited for length, clarity and flow.

Express Exchange is a Q&A series that highlights the people in the Sacramento City College community. Each conversation explores unique experiences, challenges these people overcame and perspective into what matters most in their personal journey. This series provides a space to connect and share meaningful experiences. Have an idea of someone for us to interview? Contact our editors at llentz.express@gmail.com and njeffery.express@gmail.com